


Iggy Bear

by madlysanecatlady



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Battle wounds, Fluff, Gladnis, M/M, This is the stuff i live for, fluffy fluff, sleepy iggy is best iggy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-13
Updated: 2018-01-13
Packaged: 2019-03-04 04:44:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,166
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13356762
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/madlysanecatlady/pseuds/madlysanecatlady
Summary: Ignis and Gladio got themselves into a spot of trouble in the woods. Noct is pissed. Prompto thinks Noct is overreacting. And above all else, Ignis just needs to get some sleep.





	Iggy Bear

**Author's Note:**

> So this is what I do on nights sleep eludes me. At least I feel like 10% productive. That's a plus.

It had been immensely worth it, Ignis thought as he tended to Gladio’s wounded forearm by the light of the dying campfire, ignoring the twinging insistence of his own bruised ribs. They had ventured too far away from the haven in search of the cover of trees in which to go about putting the fiery passion that had erupted within them to rest. Ignis shuddered pleasantly at the memory of Gladio’s tongue on him, driving him wild as he fought to remain quiet, lest he attract the attention of the creatures lurking in the woods, or worse, the two young men slumbering in a tent thirty or so feet away. An encounter with an angry mod of hobgoblins was a small price to pay for the sweet release they had thankfully been able to find before needing to fight their way back to the haven.

Prompto and Noctis had heard the commotion and come out to help, but not before Ignis and Gladio had been hit a few times as they struggled to right their clothes while defending themselves. Noctis was staring at him as he wrapped the bandage around Gladio’s massive arm, making the hair on the back of his neck stand up as he felt the daggers he was glaring at him connect.

‘Noct? Is there something you’d like to say?’ Ignis asked, doing his best to sound nonchalant. ‘You look like you have something on your mind.’

‘What the hell, Ignis?’ Noctis burst out, looking furious. ‘This is the sort of shit you’re always yelling at _me_ for doing. What the hell were you two doing out in the woods alone at night?’

‘Iggy saw some wild garlic earlier and wouldn’t shut up about it, so I offered to take him to get some, since it wasn’t too far away,’ Gladio silently thanked the Six he’d thought to grab a handful of cloves on the way back before they got attacked. ‘Didn’t want to wake either of you.’

‘Sure,’ Noctis didn’t look like he believed him, but he didn’t harp on it. _Thankfully_. ‘Well, just for this, we get to sleep in tomorrow. I had to lose some hard-earned sleep saving your asses. Plus, it looks like you two could use it.’ He raised an eyebrow at the careful way in which Ignis was moving.

‘I suppose that’s a fair trade,’ Ignis heaved a sigh. He usually hated sleeping in, but truth be told, he was _exhausted_ now. He figured if there would ever be a moment he would welcome a lie-in, it would be now.

‘Great,’ Noctis yawned widely. ‘So if we’re all done wandering around attracting daemons, I’m going back to bed.’ He nudged Prompto, who had fallen into a doze sitting upright. ‘Come on, Prompto. We can go back to sleep now.’

Prompto followed him silently into the tent, looking ready to keel right back over, and Ignis felt a stab of guilt. He and Gladio had robbed the boys of a few hours’ sleep because they simply couldn’t keep it in their pants until they next came across a hotel to stay in. He sighed.

‘I see you beating yourself up,’ Gladio murmured, his large hand rubbing soothingly up and down Ignis’ back. ‘Don’t. I’m calling it worth it, pissed off prince and all.’

Ignis sighed. ‘Next time, we wait for a hotel.’

‘We should be coming across one soon. If not tomorrow, the day after,’ Gladio smirked. ‘I don’t know about you, but I could go for a nice hot bath. We can share if the tub’s big enough.’

Ignis felt a shiver travel up his spine at the thought. ‘I look forward to it. Now, let’s get some sleep.’

‘Wait a minute, we haven’t checked you out yet,’ Gladio put a hand to Ignis’ shoulder to stop him getting to his feet. ‘Unbutton your shirt and let me look at your ribs. I want to make sure they aren’t cracked or anything.’

‘I’m fine,’ Ignis said, but obliged as Gladio eyed him sternly, untucking his shirt to unbutton it. Gladio slipped his hands under the smooth, silky fabric to brush it aside and get a look at the already-bruising ribs on Ignis’ left side. He ran his large, calloused fingers along the mottled skin, feeling carefully for signs of deeper injury.

‘I think you’re ok,’ Gladio said after a few passes over. He leaned down to press a tender kiss to the blossoming bruise there.

‘ _Gladio_ ,’ Ignis reprimanded softly as Gladio’s lips lingered there. ‘We’re not afforded nearly enough privacy to continue down the path your thoughts are leading.’

‘Yeah, yeah, Mr. Shy,’ Gladio sat back up with a sheepish grin. He leaned in and pressed a chaste but lingering kiss to Ignis’ lips, chuckling quietly when Ignis leaned into him, following as he pulled away. He kissed his forehead. ‘Let’s get some sleep. That’ll help heal you up.’

Ignis nodded and shrugged off his shirt, standing and reaching into his bag that lay at his feet for the t-shirt he usually favoured to sleep in. He was about to pull it on when he felt strong hands pull him backwards until the backs of his knees collided with Gladio’s thigh.

‘Shit Iggy, that looks bad,’ Gladio reached out to touch a rather sore patch on the back of Ignis’ shoulder. Ignis hissed as callouses met the tender flesh there. ‘Sorry. Why didn’t you say you got burned when Noct jumped the gun on his fira cast?’

‘I hadn’t noticed,’ Ignis said truthfully. That had been when Gladio’s arm had been sliced open by one of the hobgoblins’ horns; Ignis had been understandably preoccupied with coming to his defence.

‘Sit,’ Gladio pulled Ignis into his lap, reaching over the side of his chair and into Ignis’ bag for the medical kit. He pulled out the burn ointment and untwisted the cap. ‘This is going to sting a bit. Wow, it’s really different being the one doing the patching up. Usually you’re the one fussing over me. I prefer that, really. I don’t like seeing you hurt.’ 

‘Now you can finally understand how I feel every time you seem to forget that your skin is not made of chainmail,’ Ignis said irritably, hissing in pain as Gladio smeared the ointment over the burn. ‘The burn is a small price to pay for this particular lesson.’ 

Gladio stowed the ointment and found the right sized bandage to put over the area, securing it in place with a few strips of medical tape. He kissed the top of the shoulder gently before wrapping his arms around Ignis’ stomach, pulling his back flush to his chest to better bury his face in the crook of Ignis’ neck. ‘Lesson learned. So no more battle wounds, ok?’

‘Obviously you know I can’t promise that,’ Ignis relaxed fully against him, closing his eyes tiredly. ‘But I’ll do my best to remain the much more tactical, _graceful_ fighter.’

‘Watch it, Iggy, I’ll have to punish that kind of smacktalk,’ Gladio smirked. ‘I’ll take a look at the map tomorrow morning to find the quickest path to the nearest hotel. You deserve a good night’s sleep in a real bed. Plus, now I can’t get the image of you and me in a bathtub out of my head.’

Ignis was silent, seemingly having no answer to that. It took a moment for Gladio to realise the strategist had fallen asleep, his head drooping forward slightly. Gladio smiled fondly and readjusted Ignis’ position so that he was leaning more comfortably into Gladio, head pillowed between his shoulder and neck. He looked down at him, watching the rise and fall of his bruised and battered chest and sighed. He knew this was a hazard of their jobs in the Crownsguard, but he still couldn’t shake the nagging feeling eating at his chest as he looked down at Ignis’ injury. He would need to work harder to make sure Ignis stayed out of harm’s way along with the other two. He would take a hundred more scars to make sure no others found their way onto Ignis’ body. 

Ignis shifted in his sleep and Gladio marvelled at just how strong their camping chairs were to take both their weights without so much as a protesting creak. He pressed a kiss to a pale forehead before leaning his head on top of Ignis’ and closing his eyes. He couldn’t bring himself to wake Ignis, and figured he could at least try to get some sleep himself. It wasn’t as if he weren’t ridiculously comfortable with Ignis pressed up against him, nuzzling into his neck in his sleep. He let out a contented sigh, tightening his arms around Ignis, feeling the blackness of sleep beginning to surround his consciousness. Ignis’ breathy whisper of his name was the last thing he heard before sleep claimed him as well.

 

* * *

* * *

 

Gladio woke to the sounds of a quiet argument. He could see the brightness from the other side his eyelids, but refused to open his eyes, still feeling Ignis pressed firmly against him. He wasn’t moving an inch until he absolutely _needed_ to. He was far too content and comfortable. 

‘Don’t be such a baby princess,’ Prompto was muttering in response to whatever Noctis had said to him before Gladio had woken. 

‘Oh yeah, well I’m not the one who sleeps with a stupid teddy bear,’ came Noctis’ snappy reply.

‘It’s a _chocobo_ , thank you very much,’ Prompto sounded affronted. ‘I’m not the one pitching a hissy fit because he’s mad his _mom_ is dating!’

‘I’m not pitching a fit,’ Noctis huffed. ‘I’m just pissed we had to drag our asses outta bed to go save their asses because they decided to go have a quickie in the woods. They’re supposed to be the mature ones yelling at _us_ for doing stupid shit. I mean, _maybe_ I can see this from Gladio… but _Ignis_? Doting mother hen _Ignis_? No fucking way.’ 

Gladio bit down on a chuckle. Ignis was going to be _pissed_ when he woke up.  He had been very keen to keep their relationship under wraps since before they even left on this godsforsaken journey, probably correctly assuming Noctis would take it… less than well. The kid had some serious mommy issues going on, and was more than happy to let Ignis fill in as a surrogate. Gladio thought it was sweet for the most part, but a little bit troubling in the way Ignis took it a bit _too_ seriously, like keeping his romantic life a secret in order to not shatter Noctis’ illusion that he had the entirety of his attention. He let out a huff from his nostril; sometimes it was like travelling with a particularly demanding toddler. 

The two boys seemed to have calmed down from their argument. Prompto was apologising for calling Noctis a princess. 

‘Sorry about the jab about the teddy bear,’ Noctis sighed heavily. ‘It’s not stupid. And it doesn’t make you a baby either. I mean, look at Gladio, he’s got his own teddy bear.’

Prompto giggled. ‘That’s not a teddy bear, it’s an Iggy bear!’ 

Gladio laughed at that, opening his eyes to the bright, rising sun. ‘Don’t let him hear you call him that. He’ll probably gut you with one of those daggers of his.’ 

‘ _Mom_ wouldn’t do that to us; he loves his kids too much,’ Prompto shook his head but grinned ear to ear. ‘How’d you sleep? That _can’t_ be comfortable.’ 

‘Surprisingly, it is,’ Gladio looked down to see either he or Noctis had put a blanket over them at some point in the night. It was probably a good thing; Ignis hadn’t gotten around to getting his shirt on before zonking out. ‘Thanks for the blanket. Iggy would’ve frozen.’ 

‘Noct was worried about his _mommy_ ,’ Prompto teased, dodging out of the way of Noctis’ fist. ‘We saw the burn. Is he ok?’ 

‘Yeah,’ Gladio nodded, trying to shift in a way that wouldn’t wake up Ignis, thinking he could probably do with a bit of extra sleep. ‘He got in the way of Noct’s fira cast when he was busy trying to get that hobgoblin off me. Don’t worry, Noct, I already gave him an earful about getting himself hurt. You’re off the hook on that one.’ He winked, finding it funny how the kid’s cheeks reddened in embarrassment. 

‘Look, I don’t know why he was so keep on keeping it secret, or, trying to at least, you guys aren’t subtle,’ Noctis rolled his eyes. ‘I don’t care what you guys get up to when you’re alone, but I _do_ care if you guys are out in the fucking forest at night trying to keep us from hearing you rub one out.’ 

‘You know, he’s gonna be touched as all hell to hear how much you care, kiddo,’ Gladio smiled as Ignis snuggled into his neck, appearing to get close to waking. ‘After he gets over the embarrassment of finding out you know what we were up to last night. Maybe just _don’t_ mention that to him, ok?’ 

‘Mention what to whom?’ Ignis grumbled sleepily, blinking awake. He nuzzled into Gladio’s neck before fully waking up and remembering himself. He shot to his feet, hissing in pain as his ribs stretched painfully. 

‘Careful, Iggy, you’ll pull something,’ Gladio placed a hand on each of Ignis’ hips to pull him back down into his lap to he could get a closer look at the bruises on Ignis’ ribs. ‘Let’s get a potion on you before we leave today, ok? I don’t want that getting any worse.’ 

‘Gladio,’ Iggy snarled under his breath, eyes darting towards Noctis and Prompto, who were both making a show of packing up their things and “ignoring” them thoroughly.

‘Relax,’ Gladio leaned their foreheads together. ‘They know, and they’re cool. Even the princess is fine, provided we don’t have any more solo run-ins with daemons.’ 

Ignis’ cheeks went so red they bordered on purple. ‘So, er, they know why we were out in the woods, then?’ he asked in a faint, strangled whisper. 

‘Let’s go with a don’t ask, don’t tell policy there,’ Gladio pecked a kiss to his lips. ‘Hey Noct, what’ve we got for food this morning?’ 

‘We have those eggs we found before making camp,’ Noctis nodded towards the cooler next to Ignis’ cooking station. ‘Those’ll probably be good.’ 

‘I’ll whip something up,’ Ignis stood up again, this time more gingerly. He looked down at the t-shirt he had dropped on the ground in his sleep and sighed, bending to pick it up. 

Gladio beat him to it, picking up the t-shirt and handing him his button-up instead. ‘I’m serious about that potion. I’m not having you hurting yourself more today.’ 

‘Aww, isn’t it sweet Noct? The way dad takes care of mom like that?’ Prompto laughed, ignoring the dirty look Ignis shot him. ‘Need any help with breakfast, mom?’ 

‘I got it, kid,’ Gladio laughed, hauling himself to his feet and stretching, feeling his spine crack back into place after a night in poor posture. ‘You two take care of packing everything up. I already promised Iggy I’d find us the quickest route to a hotel for today. Some hotel beds might do us all some good.’ 

‘Thank _goodness_ ,’ Noctis grimaced. ‘You won’t need to go slinking off into the woods tonight. Promise me you’re not going to do that anymore? You do what you want to do in your downtime, but don’t do dangerous and stupid shit. Practice what you preach, _mom and_ _dad_.’ 

‘Deal,’ Gladio grinned, patting Ignis’ shoulder, noting the twitch in his temple and the stiffness of his spine. ‘Now, back on topic. There’s a hotel in Old Lestallum. If you guys are willing to hoof it for a long day _without_ whining, we can make it there before dark and avoid any more run ins with those stupid things.’ 

Ignis went over to the cooking area, shrugging on his shirt on the way. Gladio followed, fetching a potion from the Ether and putting a hand to Ignis’ chest to stop him buttoning up. He pulled the shirt back off and cracked the flask, letting the potion pour over Ignis’ ribs and shoulder. He rubbed it in, feeling the tingle of the magic on his fingers as he watched it lessen the severity of the bruising. 

Prompto let out a loud whistle. ‘Not even gonna wait until we get you guys a room? You guys got it _bad_.’ 

Ignis sighed. ‘Am I correct in understanding I’m going to need to suffer through this teasing for a while now?’ 

‘Aw, we tease you cos we love you guys,’ Prompto laughed. ‘Seriously, it’s adorable. We’re used to you doting on us all like the mom you are, Ignis. It’s nice for us to see you getting taken care of for once.’ 

‘And we all knew Gladio was a secret romantic all along,’ Noctis snorted. ‘Take the dustcovers off all you want, dude. We can guess those are romances from the titles.’

Gladio was unabashed. He held up Ignis’ shirt for him to slip his arms into, pleased to see Ignis was moving more freely now that the potion had done its work. He made a mental note to buy some more when they got to Old Lestallum. It wouldn’t do to have Ignis get hurt again and not have any on hand. He smiled softly as Ignis smiled up at him.

‘Thank you, Gladio,’ he said quietly, buttoning up his shirt. ‘I do feel much better.’

‘I’m glad,’ Gladio followed him to the camp stove, wrapping his arms around his waist to whisper into his ear. ‘I need you in tip top shape for tonight.’

Ignis shuddered at the promise lacing Gladio’s low growl. He extricated himself before that growl could do anything more to him and went to the cooler to root around for the ingredients he would need to cook their breakfast, smiling when strong hands appeared to take them from him and carry them over to the prep area. Ignis fell into the comfortable routine of preparing food for his tiny makeshift family, welcoming Gladio’s presence moving around him as he helped. They moved in such perfect harmony after weeks of Gladio helping him when he got the chance, and Ignis was starting to see how perhaps Noctis and Prompto might have seen that there was more than friendship between them. He took a deep breath, doing his best to overcome his embarrassment at knowing they knew what he and Gladio had been up to in the woods before the hobgoblin horde had arrived. Still, they were handling the situation well, even Noctis, who Ignis had worried would protest to having Ignis’ attention divided. Overall, Ignis felt the night had been rather successful, daemon attacks aside. He looked up at Gladio, whose eyes left him with no question that the coming night would be just as successful.


End file.
